By Andrew Ireland
WASHINGTON – The names are familiar to most, those who led great revivals of faith in America: Billy Sunday, Jonathan Edwards, Dwight L. Moody, Charles Wesley, Charles Finney. And the events simply are known as a "Great Awakening."
The nation literally changed course during those events during the 1700s, the 1800s, the early 1900s.
So will the key individuals in a movement this century to turn America back to God be named Jonathan Cahn and Mark Biltz, and the event known as Celebrate America?
Time will tell, but Cahn and Biltz, two of America's current spiritual leaders, will be headliners at the coming Celebrate America events, which will fill an unprecedented 14 nights spread over July 1-19 in Washington.
Cahn, who authored the New York Times bestseller "The Harbinger," and Biltz, who wrote the stunning new "Blood Moons," have produced unparalleled impact across American in recent weeks and months.
Now they'll be turning their attention, along with a multitude of other key speakers and spiritual leaders, to the Celebrate events being organized by Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne, of Revival Ministries International.
They are inviting local churches, the community, members of government and more to be part of the events that will mark the 238th birthday of America.
The Declaration of Independence will be commemorated. The Constitution will be recognized. And "we will celebrate the heritage of American and our Founding Fathers who acknowledged 'firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,'" according to the event creators.
"The Great Spiritual Awakenings of this, the impact of which they made, and The Great Awakening that is soon to come. Celebrate America," they write about events to be held at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington.
Events will be held on July 1-5, July 8-12 and July 16-19.
Rodney Howard-Browne says his goal is clear.
"We came here on assignment. God told me to go to the United States," he said. "He said, 'I am sending you as a missionary to the United States.'"
He said there is a coming revival and the church must get ready.
"The problem is God's been taken out of this nation. There's no respect for human life. No morality. God's been taken out of schools," he said.
When Cahn appeared in Washington, D.C., at the National Day of Prayer event recently, he warned America: The nation "stands in danger of impending judgment, and we all know it."
"Too much of the church has lost its saltiness to do anything about it," he declared. "And now the same biblical signs of national judgment that appeared in the last days of ancient Israel are reappearing on American soil."
At the beginning of his commanding speech, Cahn, whose runaway bestseller, "The Harbinger," stunned observers with its nearly two years on the Times list as its movie companion "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment," was the WND Film that was a top faith film during 2012 and 2013, warned that his address would not be politically correct.
He urged the nation to "come before the Lord and seek His face, and His purposes, and His will for this land and to pray for America."
Cahn also has released some of his teachings, delivered at conferences and at his own New Jersey congregation, the Beth Israel Worship Center, including "The Hanukkah Endtime Mystery," "The Masada Mystery" and "The Sanhedrin Secret."
Biltz's "Blood Moons" also released by WND Books and WND Films, documents the extraordinary chain of events in the heavens that began this past Passover, April 14.
It's called a "blood moon tetrad," an astronomical series of lunar eclipses that has occurred previously, according to NASA. But there's something very different about this series, because the eclipses occur on the biblical holidays of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot.
When tetrads have occurred in the past on these holidays, observed by Jews around the world and an increasing number of Christians as well, they have coincided with momentous events in the history of the Jewish people. The 1967 Six-Day War and the 1948 resurrection of the nation of Israel are two examples.
As Passover neared, millions of people around the world watched with anticipation for the moon to turn blood red with the first eclipse.
If you want to understand the timing of the Lord, you have to understand the seasons of the Lord, the feasts of the Lord and the calendar of the Lord, Biltz explains.
Biltz, the founder of El Shaddai Ministries, is a well-known commentator on the feasts of the Lord who has spoken in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and throughout the United States.
"All these signs, coming together at one time, are potentially the culminating signals that God is closing this chapter of human history," Biltz said. "This could be the final curtain call before the Great Tribulation mentioned in the Bible. God has always wanted to warn His people, and the rest of the world, before He intervenes. What better way to communicate to us than through the universal language of heavenly signs that speak to every tribe, tongue, and nation?"
In the Old Testament, the prophet Joel states: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come" (Joel 2:31).
In the New Testament, Jesus is quoted as saying: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light … And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:29-30).
Other speakers and groups involved with Celebrate America include Lea Carawan of Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, Pat Schatzline, Joel Stockstill, Jack Stagman of VA Coalition of America, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel & Liberty University Law School, Deron Cloud, CL Bryant, Benny Tate, Dr. Paul Murray of Coalition of America, Bishop Harry Jackson, Dena Robertson, Apostle Maldonado of King Jesus International Ministry and Pastor Mark Grooms of Thomas Terrace Baptist Church.
See the trailer for the "Blood Moons" DVD:
See a trailer for "The Harbinger" and "The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment:"